1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to communication systems for use between Multiple Groups of individuals in both stationary and mobile locations. The present invention relates more specifically to an improved communication and calling system for hospitals and the like for use between patients, health care providers, and centralized hospital stations.
2. Description of the Related Art
Communication systems in labor intensive service establishments such as hospitals, hotels, dormitories, and the like have generally involved hard wired intercom systems that allow persons or patients within a particular room of the building to call and communicate with centralized stations so as to request services or to locate needed personnel. The best examples of the state of the art in such communication systems are found in hospitals wherein communication between the generally immobile patient, the centrally located nurses' station, and the generally mobile health care provider is quite critical.
Hospital intercom calling and communication systems are for the most part based upon closed loop, hard wired, localized connections between the patient's room and a central nurses' station. Communication with the health care providers such as the nurses and orderlies on the floor is generally limited to wide area broadcast intercom systems in the hallways or common areas simply because such health care providers are seldom located in any single position in the hotel wing for any length of time.
The basic hospital calling communication systems that have been implemented thus far have a number of fundamental drawbacks. The most important problem derives from the fact such systems are hard wired and not easily modified in their configuration and use. Although patients are, for the most part, immobile in beds in the hospital rooms, problems still occur with intercom systems that include patient units that must be attached to some length of communication cord connecting a microphone/speaker unit with a centralized communication system station. Such permanently installed intercom units are sometimes inaccessible to a patient who has fallen or otherwise prevented themselves from reaching the unit. Apart from providing a communication cord length sufficient for use of the unit anywhere within the patient's room, a design that would be quite cumbersome and impractical, the patient must always insure himself access to the intercom unit where it is permanently located.
A second drawback to the standard hard wired intercom system involves the necessary mobile character of the health care providers that work in the hospital. The solution to the problem thus far has simply been to broadcast intercom requests and messages to all who are within hearing range of a speaker system mounted in the common areas and the hallways of a hospital wing. Although such broadcasts can be and often are restricted to specific hallways and wings where the health care provider is believed to be located, there is little, if any, privacy to be found in the broadcast of the message and no guarantee that the broadcast will be received by the appropriate individual.
In addition, current systems generally require that patient efforts to contact specifically assigned health care providers be relayed through a nurses' station as opposed to being carried directly to the health care provider. As the nurses' station may or may not be staffed at any particular time, a call from the patient to the nurses' station may or may not be immediately received by someone who can thereafter relay it to the appropriate health care provider.
Certainly in cases of emergencies, most current communication systems provide for an alarm system wherein, failing to receive an acknowledgement from an individual at the nurses' station, the patient can signal a critical condition that ought to be responded to by any immediately available personnel.
The drawback to this protocol and system, however, involves the numerous false alarms that occur whenever a patient is simply frustrated in being unable to contact someone at the nurses' station. Something as simple as a request for water could be the basis for signalling an alarm from a patient who is otherwise unable to contact someone for assistance.
The above problems point out additional drawbacks to existing hard wired systems that relate to restrictions on the personnel involved in the operation of the hospital wing. Because of the above problems, it is nearly essential that some staff individual be located at a centralized nurses' station at all times so as to receive and relay messages from the patient rooms to the appropriate health care providers. The limitations of current systems have meant that designating smaller and smaller local responsibility areas is necessary in order for the assigned personnel to adequately handle the needs of the number of patients involved. That is, the more labor intensive a particular communication system is, the more restricted it needs to be in scope and in the number of individuals likely to be involved in the communication efforts. It would be impossible, for example, for an individual positioned at a nurses' station to handle communication requests from in excess of 100 patient rooms and 20 to 30 health care providers when every communication effort must be channeled through the centralized station. Likewise, the chances of a broadcast intercom message being received by the appropriate health care provider in such a large system is small unless a wide area broadcast is utilized in which case a greater lack of privacy occurs.
In summary, the existing hospital communication intercom calling systems are inadequate for four fundamental reasons:
1. Lack of mobility of both patients and health care providers; PA1 2. Lack of privacy for broadcast messages and intercom requests; PA1 3. Lack of accountability for assistance requests and response times; and PA1 4. Restricted system size.
Some efforts in the past have been made to incorporate wireless communication systems within hospitals, but most fall far short of being practical for a number of reasons. In general, the electronics associated with the transmitting and receiving systems necessary for such devices are far too bulky for ease of use either at a bedside location for a patient or in a manner that can be carried with the health care provider as he or she moves about the hospital.
A second problem with current wireless systems relates to directing a specific intercom message or communication to a particular health care provider or a particular station and not directing the same communication to all other potential recipients within a given area. It, therefore, becomes necessary to electronically identify a recipient and isolate the transmission to that particular recipient's transceiver unit. Efforts in the past to resolve this problem have been quite limited.
It would, therefore, be desirable to have a communication intercom calling system that permits limited mobility for individuals who are generally fixed in position within the system (such as patients), full mobility for individuals who are generally not fixed in their location in the system (such as health care providers), and centralized communication controls at fixed satellite stations and a single centralized building station within the system. It would be desirable if this wireless communication system were capable of handling a large number of "calls" or communication "paths" simultaneously as with a protocol similar to the larger scale cellular telephone communication systems currently in use. It would be desirable if such system would involve low power transmission and reception requirements and would include a means for identifying specific transmitters and receivers with information on the individuals utilizing such devices. It would be desirable to incorporate a response tracking and accountability system into the communication system in a manner that insures an accurate logging of all communications that occur. It would further be desirable if such a system could easily interface into either existing cellular telephone or hard wired telephone communication systems external to the building wherein the system is installed.